Would it be possible to solve the population issue (and other concerns raised), if the private server settings and admin cater to just a specific group only?
Here are some (small) examples of problems raised, repeatedly, on the forum regarding official servers and the sample (possible) private server setting (advertising?) :
Large builds - Build limits
Abandoned Bases - Monthly wipe
Thralls OP - Lower multiplier
Wepons/Items OP - Restrict certain feats
…etc.
I’m not recommending combining these solutions on a single server, instead just pick one and it becomes the niche for the server.
New private server with no poison claws allowed, official server settings, community guidelines enforced, 10 slots, pre-paid 6 months.
Here I am solving a specific problem (weapons), settings are known (official), with clear rules (funcom guidelines), and set expectations on size/expiration.
Maybe this would attract a small specifc player base, but, it might be better than trying to be everything for everyone and no one is happy?
I would just like to counter that NOT ALL private servers cause or have problems. This is not a shameless self-promotion line, I just felt it needed to be said. There are plenty of servers, PvP, PvE and PvE-C with sound, responsible admin. I’ve played on several that I can honestly say I had no complaints about…the rules were fair and no major issues occurred. I realize the above mentioned issues definitely exist/happen but perhaps we should instead focus on how to spotlight servers like that, i.e. the OPs idea. We all know crap servers exist, pretty much for any game that goes online.
Can always hire a marketing firm…
Alright, here’s an idea…it’s rough but hear me out. What about some sort of coalition or union, for lack of a better term?
In other words, a group of server owners/operators that work actively together to spread the word of each other. A sort of peer-review group, if you will. It would not be too difficult to weed out bad servers from good ones, theoretically. Could even put together some sort of group channel…Discord and the like come to mind. Feel free to debate, it’s simply a base idea.
Could make a rating system based on server age, player base happiness/enjoyment, etc.
Actually, the more I stew on the idea, the more I’m really liking it. I don’t want to clog up someone’s thread with my own thoughts so I will end it here but if any server owners like the way this sounds, please feel free to DM me and we can discuss it further.
Where is this info. Not saying your lying, but I have scanned the server list, and privates are as ahead as officials. And yes I know that the number is not “accurate” even after refresh. But thatvisbtruebfor all the servers shown. It is not like only privates have a false number showing.
Also are we talking about actual live numbers or how many people have logged in and decided not to play. I am interested because I am thinking of looking at a decent private server, but would want all of the facts.
Every time I peruse the list I see 10x this 10x that, etc. I would like a mostly vanilla server with limited mods and an Admin that is fair and honest. Also, if you have been running a private server for a few years, you are most likely going to continue, I do not want to play on a server and then have it “disappear”.
Filter by officials. Sort by number of players. Start counting online numbers (this might take you about 5-10 mintes). Then compare this to the number of players on steam via the Steam Store Stats page.
It helps to open both at the same time. Since they don’t refresh in real time, you can get roughly an accurate snapshot. You can pretty much assume that the total number of players via Steam minus the number of official players in the player is the number of players not playing on official.
This is a little harder to get accurate numbers because of the new store. But I doubt the microsoft store has made a large impact.
If you are talking about the in-game server browser, that number is not close to accurate. I have seen servers list 0, then Log in to check it and it have 20-15 players.
It also doesn’t account for SP/Coop sessions (though they could be considered private). Also for console players, there is no chart. The problem is that the in game list cannot gather the live data fast enough, and my guess is there is an internal region check that prioritizes refreshing those numbers to minimize the load.
Not being combative, but also being 1/8th of a population of “800” because non private/pve type players quit is skewed numbers. I know of at least 8 players who preferred officials, but quit when they realized the pvp raid was a 2nd priority. So that means that the 1/8th colud be 9/17th if they focused there. So if we use the 8 =800, then the 17=1700…more gamers is better business.
There was 22,000 players peak today in Conan Exiles (on PC, I don’t bother to factor in consoles at all since they have such a degraded experience in comparison its barely above a mobile experience) on Steam. Which is a 30% gain over the last month.
If players are leaving official, then they are likely going to private. Unless for every 2 that leave official 3 new players join private/single. I have never heard of an instance of people getting fed up with private servers and their access to mods to go play on offciial.
Once you mod, you never unmod. That’s a Conan Exiles fact.
Before the Siptah roll-out and the free week my Official server was down to a few people actively playing. Now we are up to more than 20 consistently during peak hours.
I think you are right, most new players will learn the game on Officials, and then migrate or quit.
I still think your ratio of 8 to 1 is not correct, but will not debate it with you.
Not only that, but especially on PvP players don’t dare to attack most admins on a server… and prefer to ass kiss.
This is the case in every game… you can’t “bully” the admin, cause his minions will help them.
For PvP servers, admin abuse could be giving their allies or themselves advantages for pvp fights. Spawning equipment to use on a raid against someone.
PvP servers probably would tend to have the bigger potential of admin abuse. Not to say it happens often but the potential is there, that people may be leery of joining any PvP private server.
Probably, not much of an issue on PvE type servers since if an Admin spawns a base or whatever, it truly does not have an effect on the other players.
Oh, it does. Remember, in PVE(-C), structures are indestructible, which lends itself to all sorts of problems. If a normal player can cause problems for you by building, imagine what an admin could do.
Also, not every private server is (mis)configured in such a way to make the game trivial (e.g. 10x harvest multiplier). On most servers, you still have to farm to accomplish your goals. It’s true that you don’t compete with others the way you do on PVP servers, but that doesn’t mean you’ll feel indifferent if the admin just spawns in the same amount of mats you farmed over a week and gives them to someone he favors.
Then there’s the selective enforcement of the server rules. I’m sure I don’t have to go into details here – just pick any private PVE(-C) server, read the rules, and then think of how they could be selectively enforced, creatively reinterpreted on a case-to-case basis, etc.
So yeah, plenty of room for admin abuse on non-PVP servers.
I like the way you always poo-poo consoles as not important, yet Funcom still invests money into supporting them. Me thinks if they are doing that, then they must be more viable than you know. And thus, those numbers are very important to any stats regarding private/official. It also makes your numbers skewed to match your tastes in hardware by dismissing a playerbass supported by the company, thus making the 1/8 data more theoretical than anything else.
That is true, although all the PvE server admins I know, spend most of the time being admins or creating things for the server like my friend and I spent a ton of time to create Thespians to exchange/purchase Esoteric Scrolls for two servers, also Dictionaries, concept build for Start quests, and other ideas. We spent 7 hours on Saturday just working on this to get at least the first set working with a lot of back and forth the previous couple of weeks.
Many admins I know, barely got a chance to actually play the game. I think I play more on the Official servers than my servers where I do not have to be admin for a while.
Yeah, that’s what good admins do. I’ve had the privilege to play on a private server with an excellent admin. I was just pointing out that there’s room for admin abuse even when it’s not PVP.
There’s one more thing worth mentioning, even though it isn’t really admin abuse. Quite a few PVE servers have a pay-for-stuff mechanism. You send the admin a “donation”, and you’re granted a kit with items as a “thanks”. It’s not admin abuse, but I stay away from servers like that.
Only recently heard of this and I agree, definitely not something I want to go near. Kind of reminds me of the pay-to-play GMs; I’m still on the fence with that concept too.
